I’ve written a fair amount of code in my IT career and released a good number of Windows programs also, so a good tool to create Windows installer packages was always key. Each program would have a different set of needs, such as scripts, DLLs, security settings, etc., so one tool that could handle a complex set of requirements was necessary. If you have the money or need tons of support, you can always go with InstallShield, the solid choice for many companies using Windows.

• Nsis Vs Installshield Freezer

We always used InstallShield in our early days as it came packaged with Visual Studio and Visual Foxpro. However, it is not the only good software out there for creating Windows installers. In this article, I’m going to mention a couple of other free and paid (though much cheaper) utilities you can try out in your organization. Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS) If you love open source software, you may want to check out the (NSIS). NSIS is a professional system that you can use to create everything from very simple to very complex Windows installers. It’s small, yet has a large feature set, which makes it suitable for Internet distribution.

As you can tell by the name, NSIS is script-based, which allows you to create logic as complicated as you need to handle any situation. Luckily, for beginners, it also includes a bunch of plug-ins and pre-defined scripts to get you started. Here is a short list of some of my favorite features of this MSI package creator:. Ability to create Windows installers that can install, uninstall, set system settings, extract files, and more. NSIS has an overhead of only 34KB!

It is by far the smallest Windows installer compared to InstallShield and Wise. One installer that is compatible with all major version of Windows from Windows 95 to Windows 10. Three compression methods (ZLib, BZip2, LZMA) to ensure the greatest compression for your installer packages. Script based installer is better than other programs that just generate a list of files and registry keys. Using the script language, you can perform many different installation tasks like upgrades, version checks, system reboots, modification of environment variables, access to Windows API and more.

Create custom dialogs and interfaces to include user input, configuration options, and even a custom wizard interface. Extend the capabilities of NSIS with plug-ins that can communicate with the installer.

Presentation is key, however, and a solid software installation experience is one of the first things a client or customer will notice before using your product. The lack of a wizard-style GUI could be intimidating to those who are averse to text files, but the price of free makes NSIS a worthwhile product which. I don´t know if it´s cheap, but it´s a good one. Ricardo Antunes da Costa Thursday, August 29, 2002. Try SuperPiMP ( ) from Nullsoft ( ). It is free and imho easier to use and more powerfull than Installshield.

Mar 13, 2017  Hi George, Sorry for this inconvenience and the InstallShield is the third party software, I have checked its official download website: Download InstallShield Limited Edition for Visual Studio and it still have no more information about the VS 2017 yet. Maybe it is during the development, you can try to consult with this software developers through this to know it.

Support for web installation and file patching across the Internet. The program supports a tons of other features including installer self-verification using checksum, list and tree for component selection, silent mode for automated installations, full code editor for writing scripts, etc. Advanced Installer also has a free version, but it also has several other versions that go up in price depending on how complex your installer needs to be. It’s updated very often and works extremely well. If you’re looking for something more professional that also includes some options for support, then Advanced Installer is a good choice. If you want a between the five different versions they have, then check out the link. The free version actually has a lot of features and we were able to use that in our company for a long time because our installers were fairly simple.

One unique feature to Advanced Installer is Installer Analytics. It’s basically a set of tools to see how users install, use and uninstall your applications. You can easily see how large your user base is, load a survey when a user uninstalls the program, and get information about the user’s system and geographic location. All of this on a sleek and modern web interface that you can. It also lets you easily repackage your applications into the new AppX format, which is required for the Universal Windows Platform. It doesn’t require any code changes and they have a free AppX converter tool. Those are just some of the unique features, but Advanced Installer pretty much covers all the bases.

Check out the here for each edition. Inno Setup is an advanced Windows installer that is completely free and that has been around since 1997. It’s got a ton of features and works great for small businesses with moderately complex requirements.

If you would like a gratis but full fledged and easy to use installer creator you will not go far wrong with. Mature. Windows XP through Windows 8.

Nsis Vs Installshield Freezer

Custom installation. Script based so can be included in a make process, (.iss files).

Unicode Support. Custom Installer Icons & Splash Screens. Multistage Installs. Multi-directory installs. Multiple Language support. Add to start menu. Help/Manuals install.

Prompted Installs with Advanced Settings There is also a IDE/GUI available to get you started. If you're going for maximum simplicity and ease of use, I might recommend just using to create what is known as a 'Self-Extracting Archive' (SFX).

This is basically a self-contained installer that will extract a bunch of files for you to a directory. To do this, simply add the files you want to extract to a new archive and tick the 'Create SFX archive' option.

You can then go in the 'Advanced - SFX Options.' Menu, where you can very easily setup advanced features, like:. Adding a custom icon and initial info text.

Adding a license agreement text. Setup custom actions to be performed before and/or after installation. Select the default path to which to extract the files, and set other options, like silent overwrite or fully silent installation if required It's a very simple approach, and quite self-explanatory, you probably won't even need a tutorial to make it work. One hint that is not clear from the menu: you can use HTML in your info/license text if you want, and it will display correctly formatted.